Golf Bets / Paul Krishnamurty / 19 February 2010 / Leave a Comment

Some impressive match play performers have emerged over recent days in Arizona - and Paul Krishnamurty has suggested bets on a pair of them for today's last 16 match ups at the WGC-Accenture

Earlier in the week, Lee Westwood was bemoaning the fact that the media aren't giving an ever growing band of world-class English golfers the credit they're due. I couldn't agree more and events so far at Dove Mountain have vindicated that opinion, even if Westwood himself has failed yet again to advance beyond the second round.

England boasts four of the 16 players in the third round draw, including the only two trading in single figures, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter. In addition, Luke Donald and Oliver Wilson are drawn against one another, so at least one English quarter-finalist is guaranteed.

Having already tipped both of them at [40.0] and [110.0] respectively, I'm also assured at least one decent priced representative in the last eight. Before getting to today's matches, its worth updating that earlier advice. Four remain from eight selections, and I see no sense in placing any cover bets just yet.

Camilo Villegas, advised at [40.0], holds the strongest chance of the four in my view. He claimed a massive scalp yesterday when eliminating defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, and rates a strong favourite at [1.64] against Ben Crane. That performance strengthened the argument that Villegas is particularly well suited to matchplay, as his previous efforts in this event suggested. Crane will be no pushover, but I'm confident the Colombian can progress.

My fourth runner, Brian Gay, is the outsider in the field, primarily because he plays the tournament favourite next. Without doubt, Casey will be a very tough nut to crack, but in my view the odds here are ridiculously one-sided. As a very straight hitter with a great short game, Gay certainly has the tools to conquer this course and give the favourite a tough match. [6.2] about Casey winning the tournament is very short considering he'll have to win four matches, and if I wasn't already cheering on Gay then a lay in the outright market would certainly be in order.

Instead, my day three punting strategy involves the following couple of match bets.

10pts Tim Clark @ [2.0] (vs Sergio Garcia)

No golf betting strategy has yielded more consistent profits over the last 12 months than opposing Garcia. It didn't work for me on day one when, for once, the Spaniard managed to find his touch on the greens when it mattered most to eliminate David Toms, but I'm confident it will go wrong at some stage for him this week.

He's never gone beyond this stage of the World Matchplay before, and Clark looks certain to present a very stiff challenge. The South African certainly played the better golf yesterday, shooting -5 to defeat Martin Kaymer, as opposed to Garcia's -2 against Anders Hansen. As one of the market leaders, Kaymer represented another impressive scalp for Clark, who eliminated Tiger Woods last year.

4pts Stewart Cink @ [1.9] (vs Charl Schwartzel)

Having foiled my plans on both days so far, I'm slowly getting the message about Cink. He really is a cracking match player, as his efforts in overhauling substantial deficits against Edoardo Molinari and Sean O'Hair illustrate. Its no wonder he's finished second and third in previous renewals of this event. Schwartzel has played well in both matches to date, but while I can't really manufacture an argument against him, Cink's match-play prowess must make him the one to beat here.

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